Social Selling Tips n Tricks - Live Greenroom Broadcast 21 July 2021

Hello everyone, welcome to Social Selling Tips and Tricks broadcast on the 21st of July 2021. This is episode 3 of the Social Selling Club brought to you by the Social Selling Warrior. I'm very privileged— privileged, sorry— and honored to have with me Craig Langley. How are you, Craig?

I'm great, thank you, Con. It's great.

That's good. And also got Joe Lemon. Joe, how are you today?

Life is great. Thanks so much for having us.

That's our pride, Joe. Thank you very much. So we have this room on a weekly basis and we aim to share our experience and knowledge and thoughts on the broad topic of social selling. Now, social selling has, uh, most of us that are listening into this either live or on the replay will know is one of those terms that is bandied around quite a bit. and there is a bit of confusion and there is a bit of misunderstanding as to what it may be. One of the things we always do in these podcasts is take a couple of minutes to just define it quickly for our audience, therefore they get a better understanding of what we are on about and what we are talking. Now, social selling, my understanding is, came as a result of LinkedIn launching a number of years ago the Sales Navigator product, and they wanted to use something to support, or they looked for some sort of a gimmick or some sort of a foundation for it, and, uh, they decided to launch it. Uh, hold on, uh, just bring up Tony, and also I'll bring up a couple of new guests. We'll bring up also Mac, invite to speak. Welcome, gents. We're just doing a bit of a recap.

Yep.

Welcome, Mac, and welcome, uh, uh, Mr. Stark, Mr. Tony Stark. Uh, hopefully it's the real one, but it's not. Anyway, we'll get to you guys soon. Just defining social selling for our listeners? It is one, creating a professional brand, and we all know what that means. It's about having what we might call an all-star or rock star LinkedIn profile. It's focusing on the right prospects. How do you find the people? How do you connect with them? How do you start interacting with them? Engaging with insights. I've labeled that the education phase of social selling. That's where you start creating some content and curating some content, but with your perspective and with your spin on it. And lastly, the most important part of social selling is to build the trust and build the relationship. And what I mean by that is to get that perspective where they trust you enough that you can then have a conversation offline, because the most important aspect of social selling, as we understand it, is that we do not sell on the social media platform. We sell offline. The aim is to build that relationship, build a trust relationship, take the conversation offline, and start talking to the prospect or to the client about what you offer, what you can do for them, and then go from there. So that's a clarification for our listeners. I'll just go to Craig first. Uh, did you have anything to add to that, Craig, in relation to the pillars of social selling?

Well, you know, I think, um, Social selling is all about building rapport, isn't it? It's going through the know, like, and trust process to the point at which the sales conversation kind of evolves naturally and doesn't feel forced. You know, they start to get curious about what you do and what you could offer and how you could help, and it's kind of a point in the discussion where you're, you're marketing by, by invitation rather than by connect and pitch on, on LinkedIn. So I think it's just a, a natural conversation that evolves into a, into a business conversation. That's what I take social selling to be, is, is, is my feeling.

I love that, Craig, the marketing by invitation. I'm going to write that down. If we get a chance later on, we might come back to that. I really like that concept, and that's the beauty of these podcasts. We get to drop some of those gems. Marketing by invitation. Thanks, Craig. We'll come back to that later on just to dissect a bit more. Joe, I'll come to you next. You were the next one that joined us. What's your perspective of social selling based on those 4 pillars that LinkedIn has devised?

Yeah, I would definitely say that it really does come down to having those open open-ended conversations without the expectation of business transactions to happen. And, you know, I think that's, that's one of the key fundamental, you know, like pieces of it. A lot what Craig was saying, honestly, of just adding value without the expectation behind it. And, you know, that's something I had to learn on, on there. But, but yeah, 100%.

We're breaking up a bit there, Joe. So, yep, we're breaking up a bit there, but that's okay. We heard a lot of that. That's great. That's true. It's about having those conversations without really being that pitchy salesperson, which is what we all hate to have. So I'll go to Mac then. Mac, I hope you caught a bit of that conversation. It's about just defining social selling. Just give us your spin, your understanding on that concept of social selling.

Hey, Con, and always good to be on stage with yourself and Craig and now Joe as well and Tony. So thank you for the invite. So social selling for me is an opportunity to create and offer social proof of your position or expertise because I think a lot of us have in some form or some way belong to a lot of network organizations or breakfast groups or some form of corporate networking in the past. And only when you get to see social proof, when you actually get to see somebody share their expertise and their passion and their knowledge, that is when we create. And as Craig talks about that relationship side of things, this is when you start having a bit of faith in that person. And it doesn't take that connect and pitch before people actually buy from you. They really want to know that they can firstly trust you and that there is a relationship And then once that has been established, only then, you know, are you even open to breach those conversations. So, you know, that's my— those are my thoughts on the process.

Thanks, Mac. Another little gem there dropped by you. I really love that, the offering of social proof. I think we hear a lot of that mentioned these days in relation to the social media platforms. But that social proof is something that we all yearn for. And we've got to not only yearn for it, but we've got to also earn it. And I think by the social selling processes that we talk about, that's the way you you earn and you yearn for that. So yearn and earn that social proof. So well done, Tony. You're a newie to our group. Welcome, and tell us a bit about yourself first, so we can get your perspective on social. Me? That's right, sir. Yeah, you. I don't know anything about social selling. That's okay. You enjoy— are you enjoying? Where are you based at, Tony? Or do we call you Mr. Stark? What do you want to be called, Tony or Stark? Whatever you like. Okay, where are you based, sir?

Country?

Yes, country.

India.

Okay, good. Welcome to our conversation, and, uh, feel free if you want to ask a question on the way. Please, uh, just, uh, unmute yourself and ask a question while we continue our conversation on social selling. And welcome to our group.

Yeah, thanks a lot.

So do you also—

I mean, what do you— sorry for the noise—

what do you do?

I mean, besides—

We are all— we're all mostly— most of us here are all consultants, and most of us are in the consulting space relating to LinkedIn, And helping people leverage their brands to get better traction from their brands in order to create more opportunities for sales. So we're social media consultants. Makes sense?

Yeah, absolutely makes sense.

So, okay, so if you can just go on mute, we'll continue the conversation. You can ask some questions later. Is that it? Thank you. Okay guys, one of the things I wanted to explore this week, we've discussed a number of times social selling, but there's one thing that I I think people struggle with, and I don't know if you agree with me, it's that engaging with insights. That's one I'm really passionate about. I know a number of you are too. It's trying to create that content. And we hear a lot about people, oh, what do I write about now? What have I got to say? Am I worthy of saying it? Will someone listen to what I've got to say? What are your tips in relation to how someone can engage with insights? How can they create content? And how can they curate content? And then once they've done that, what kind of confidence do they need to get in order to be able to put themselves out there? So, Craig, I'll start with you.

Thanks, Con. So, yeah, I think engaged insights is about not just posting, but also commenting on other people's posts. So, I think people starting out on LinkedIn, can go out and comment on the right posts. Find the active people in your industry and comment on their posts and make insightful comments, you know, not just the, you know, great post, thanks for sharing, but write a comment that invites a return comment and get a discussion going. And that can be so powerful in terms of increasing your credibility, and also generating incoming connection requests. Whenever I get a connection request, I always say, you know, did you, did you find me from a post, a search, or a comment? And a lot of people come back and say, well, actually, I saw one of your comments and reached out. So comments can be, can be really powerful. They're like mini posts. If you haven't got any ideas for for posting that particular day, just go out and comment on 6 or 7 posts, and you can get so much traction by doing that, Con. Back to you.

What a great strategy, Craig, and hopefully our listeners heard that and can apply that. That is so true. If you're struggling to create some content, no stress. Like Craig said, look at some of the people you're following, look at some of the things they're posting, and engage with that post. Or if not that post, engage with someone that's commented on that post and provide your perspective. It might be someone you know and you feel comfortable in talking to them and supporting them on LinkedIn. So it's a great idea and a great suggestion by Craig. Go out there and start engaging with posts, interacting. Look, the likes, the shares, they're good, but we know from Richard Vanderbloem and others that the testing they've done, they don't give you much traction. You've got to comment in more than 3 words. We know that more than 3 words in a comment is what's going to make that post go a bit further and people will notice it and start getting some interaction on it. Joel, I'll come to you. What are some of your strategies when you're creating content or curating content for that matter? Anything you like to do?

Absolutely.

Sorry to interrupt.

I have to—

I followed you guys, so I'll be back.

If I try to back— All right.

Bye-bye, Tony. Sorry, Joe. Go for it, buddy. Sorry.

Not a problem. Can you guys hear me pretty well?

Very good now. Very clear. Very clear.

Perfect. Perfect. So, so, you know, one of the strategies I've been really focusing on trying to deploy is around storytelling better. And, you know, I feel like you can always keep growing in that aspect. But really trying to get to the nuances and those pieces of, of like everyone's lives that really connects everyone. So doing more storytelling is something that I've been really trying to focus in on, even those stories that are, that really get overlooked throughout most companies. And because a lot of people don't feel confident in trying to share, you know, maybe some insights about their industry or they don't have a real clear perspective about how they are separated from their actual competition. But, but everyone has a story. And I think that if we can all press into those stories and really try to build it that way and just have that, you know, one-to-one type of engagement, that will give us some honest feedback, at least whether we are resonating with people. And then we can also see if we could try to scale out from there and at least get some more traction on some of our content. But just a couple of thoughts.

Oh, that's awesome, Joe. That is magnificent storytelling. And you know what? It doesn't always have to be business, does it? It could be something of a personal story. It could be something of an inspirational It could be, but as long as you tell the story, I think people always love a good story. It's something about the way us as human beings interact. We all sit there loving it. We grew up listening to our grandma and grandpa tell us a story, and we just, we just love that. Storytelling is something that we can learn from, and we learn very quickly and easily because we're able to put ourselves in that position and say, wow, What about, that was me, wow, that could have been me one day, or whatever the case might be. So storytelling is a very, very powerful trait. So to our listeners out there, you've got some good tips there, both from Craig and now from Joe. So hopefully you noted these down and you've gone back and rewinded that and listened to both Craig and Joe. Now we're going to go to Mac. Now, Mac, no pressure on you, buddy, but what can you tell us about the way you create content? What are any strategies and thoughts you can share?

Con, so, you know, firstly, following on from Craig and Joe, um, when they, they've hit some great points on, on both of those, um, and, you know, both of those strategies work extremely effectively. So, you know, I urge every, everyone to look into both of those because, you know, uh, commenting on other people, especially, you know, influencers, other people that are experts within the field or on a specific topic, especially if you're looking at your target audience and commenting on your target audience's field, you know, and coming across as somebody with authority who can actually speak on the subject and give value will definitely add massive value and will return lots of conversations that you can then take offline and have one-to-one conversations. And storytelling is One of the one of the the oldest and most effective you know processes as well get people into you know who you are and and takes them on their journey. I don't know if you know the the cycle known as the hero's journey, which they use in in movies and general storytelling. But you know I urge everybody go and have a look on YouTube. There's a five-minute video that talks about. The hero's journey. And if you can, you know, follow each one of those tips of the pain point that somebody's gone through to, you know, them solving the problem to them becoming the hero in the story, that will give them some effective ways of being able to share their experiences. For me, you know, some of the other ways that I do, I do a lot of research. So I'm always looking at, you know, my target audience. What are they talking about? What are they saying? What are the challenges that they are facing? And you know, there's so much content out there. I know a lot of people struggle with content, but if you you just go to your last ten clients and say, "Hey, you know why? Why did you do business with me? What are the things that I helped you with? What are those pain points that we solved for you?" That will give you lots of information to come back on and to go and talk about. And from that perspective, you'll have you know content that just keeps keeps on coming. And don't try and put everything in one post. I find because a lot of people try and. You know, jam too much content into one post. Just, you know, one, one point at a time will suffice. So, you know, there are a few options that I do there. Looking at major news stories, seeing how, you know, what's happening within the news that's relevant to my target audience, as well as something that I can give an opinion on, really works really well as well. So, you know, those are just a A few without running off into another direction.

That's awesome, mate. I'm going to start Googling this Hero's Journey. Thanks for that. That is a great tip for our listeners there. So guys, if you missed that, it's Hero's Journey. Google it. There's a video according to Mac and follow those tips that are there. Another really good gem shared by one of our presenters today. So let's just do a bit of a reset here. We are at the Social Selling Tips and Tricks brought to you by the Social Selling Warrior. This is a weekly Uh, chat, and it's, uh, then packaged up and posted on Anchor FM, and you can find it on every other podcast channel, Spotify and Google Podcasts. Uh, we go live every Wednesday evening, my time in Australia, but it's, uh, 12 PM BST time. Uh, Joe, where are you? What time is it where you are, sir?

So I'm currently traveling right now, but I am on the West Coast, so it is 4 o'clock in the morning.

Wow, there you are. So it's 4 o'clock in the morning for Joe. Now I know why he can't join us every week. So there you are, guys. This is a weekly chat, the Social Selling Tips and Tricks. So what I want to do now is I want to sort of— I read an article, I thought this would be important to share because it covers about what you guys talked about in relation to writing content. I just want to share this with you all and our listeners and sort of share some of those gems that we talked about. So, they talked about that when you are creating some content, that describe what you need as detailed and as clearly as possible, but also think about how many words you want to consider, because the word count is going to be very important. Now, we know on LinkedIn that the word count is increased up to— well, not the word count, the character count, sorry, to 3,000 characters. So, you've got a bit more capacity now on LinkedIn to write those posts, and you don't have to always refer to an article or when you should know as a blog post. Also, the thing to suggest is what do you want the reader to do after reading the content? Now, all of us here on the stage know the CTA, the call to action. So whenever you're posting some content, always think about the call to action. What do you want someone to do? Do you want them to like it? Do you want them to comment? Do you want them to interact? If it's a poll, do you want them to vote? And also, even when you're engaging, you can sort of do a call to action indirectly by saying, I really agree with this, I, I think this is very good, this is something else I've discovered, and you can put a link there that's very similar to this, or something of that, of that nature. So a call to action is important, but more importantly when you are posting. Also, the other thing to note is look at some keywords you can use, because we all know that Google is a very powerful tool. So when you're writing, think about some of the keywords in your industry and the content category that you're using. And, you know, what, what ones would you like to include there in order for you to be discovered and for others to be able to discover them? What is the relevance now? So when you're writing your content or telling a story, why are you telling this story now? What's triggered this storytelling? What's triggered this content? What's triggered this post? And with that in mind, When you are writing the content, do you have a particular buyer persona in mind? Now, most of us have done our ideal client personas. We have an avatar of some sort. We know the type of people we're targeting. So when we're writing our content, keep that in the back of your mind as you're writing the content. I thought that was some really good tips there in relation to how to proceed with your writing. Any other thoughts on what I've said there, guys? All quiet. That's all right. That's okay. Not asking for any comments. If you don't have any, that's okay. We'll move on. Mark, welcome. Just saw you there at the bottom there. Welcome to our session here today. Mark is a very good friend of mine and also probably a lot of you guys too. Really starting to do some great work on LinkedIn. I've been watching him. He's also got LinkedIn Live too. So if anyone can provide Mark with some tips on his LinkedIn Live, LinkedIn profile there, it'd be great because Mark would love to give some tips on how to do some LinkedIn Lives. And maybe one day we might do a LinkedIn Live session here, Mark, and we'll specifically dedicate one evening to LinkedIn Live and the tips and tricks that we've all used and learned. I know Mac does quite a few LinkedIn Lives and he'll have a lot to share with you. So one of the things we want to move on to is then once we create that content, just moving on into the next pillar, which I think people also struggle with, is how do you then build that trusted relationship? According to LinkedIn, it's about once you share your perspectives and people start to trust you, then you have the opportunity to start having those more deeper conversations. So I'll start with you again, Craig. What way do you then go about creating that trusted relationship and having those conversations? Any thoughts?

Well, as you know, Con, I'm in the automotive industry, and unlike a lot of industries, people move around a small set of companies. So I can always find a project that we've got something in common around. So we might have done some particular technology that we can talk about or worked on a particular car launch. So, so, um, there's always something, uh, I can talk about around projects. And also I can always talk around people that we, we know in the industry. And, um, failing that, a lot of my, um, connections absolutely love to, to learn about LinkedIn. So whenever I find, uh, um, a, a great post, um, you know, Richard Vanderbloem you mentioned is a great source for for putting stuff about the algorithm. And Andy Foote always puts good stuff about hashtags out there. And I always try and save a portfolio of posts that I can share with my connections over direct message. And also industry posts. Whenever I see a technology, I'll either do a post about it or I'll share another post. And I don't tend to do shares in posts. I tend to, to use it in direct messages. So I, I keep a spreadsheet of, um, of, of interesting stuff that I see. Um, I also use, um, Slack, so I store stuff, uh, with my community. I've got about 180 automotive engineers in a, in a Slack group, and we've actually got a LinkedIn channel as well. So I store, um, interesting posts and articles in there. So I've always got something that I can talk around, either a project that we've got in common, a technology we've got in common, people we know, or stuff about LinkedIn that I can use to have a conversation and get to know people, Con. So that's what I tend to do.

That's great. Thanks for that. Joe, anything you do specifically posts, sharing your insights? How do you start creating that relationship with the people that engage with you? What do you do? Anything specific or particular you do?

Sure. I think this is a great conversation. And Craig, I think that's a brilliant way to really build trust as well by building up your own community because a lot of people don't like to be first, right? You know, a lot of people don't want to be the only person that is working with somebody They are in a relationship with somebody else in business. Like, you know, they want to know other people are there with them. And so I think the fact that you're building that up is a really great strategy just to really build that trust online. And one strategy that I use myself when it comes to building trust on, especially over LinkedIn, is really sharing some of the losses. Because I think that so many times in business, you know, We only highlight the wins. And I think that's a great thing to do. I think we should talk about the wins. We should celebrate those. But I think when it comes to letting people know kind of your whole journey as well as your limitations, right? So, so, you know, to me personally, I think that's a great way to go about being vulnerable. And vulnerability breeds trust, I believe. So, sharing people kind of, you know, aspects of your work where you're not the best at. And places that you feel like, okay, we can definitely improve here. With that, gives people some idea of what you're capable of, I believe. So, just a thought. But I would love to know if other people think that's a good strategy as far as being vulnerable on LinkedIn.

I like that. I like that, Joe. I went to a session a number of years ago with a coach of a football team here in Australia. And he said, something very profound which I did— sort of stuck with me for a long, long time. He said he took longer to evaluate their— what they learned from their wins than they did from their losses. And because, you guys, we always focus on the wins, he felt that people spend too much time focusing on their wins. Once he started looking at the losses and looking at what they did wrong, he was able to get a bit— a better focus. Because people tended to focus too much on the wins and tend to focus too much on the successes. You need to go back and attribute and acknowledge the losses, and also what did you learn from those losses as well. So I think it's a very, very good point. Vulnerability is something we talk a lot about, uh, in a lot of aspects on social media. I think people connect with authentic people. We know, and Craig talks about the know, like, and trust aspect a lot. I think once they get to know you and they get to like you, vulnerability is part of that. Showing your authentic self in that, hey, I did stuff up here, or I made a mistake here, or I'm learning. At the moment I'm doing a video course because I don't know how to do videos. Now you think someone like me who's been around in social media would, would know that. So I'm doing a video course with an esteemed video tutor. Paid quite a bit of money on this because I'm keen to learn about doing video and how I can improve. Because I've admitted to myself finally that, hey mate, you're just doing videos like an amateur. It's time you improved and picked up your act. And therefore I've now invested in myself to learn to do videos, you know, properly, more professional. And maybe if not professional, a bit more than amateurish of what I'm doing now. So it's a good point. Mac, I'll come to you in relation to, in relation to what we were talking about, building trust and relationships. And I know you've got your coaching program that's coming up soon, which we can talk about later on, and you cover that. But what do you teach your clients in relation to these coaching programs, how to build that trust and relationship?

Con, so there are quite a few things that you know, both yourself, Craig, and Joel have mentioned already that are really important with regards to community. For me, community is key. You know, I've built a strong community of business owners and people that I've worked with over the years who I interact with and I engage with on a regular basis. And I see how I can support them. But one of the things that I really enjoy doing is, you know, everybody always wants business to come their way. They always want introductions. They always want referrals. But, you know, there's this mindset of abundance that, you know, if you, if you're willing to share and you're willing to introduce other people, there's more likelihood that people are going to want to introduce you as well. Because there's nothing worse than that person that just takes the time, if that makes sense. And so, I have this mindset on LinkedIn, which you'll see quite often when, you know, if I'm going on a post and I think, oh, hold on. So, as an example, one of my clients is, he's left the rat race to kind of try and save the planet and his organization plants trees. And so, you know, I get involved with whenever I see anything that's, you know, climate change or save the planet or or Bill Gates has spoken about something about climate change or somebody else of influence, I'll go in and I'll go and tag him and go, hey, did you know about this? How can you include this in your next seminar and conversation? And just add a bit of value. I'm always introducing people, as an example, lots of sales coaches around the world. And sometimes people can get very into a rut where They're very good at what they do, but they're in their little nucleus, if that makes sense. So, I know some phenomenal sales coaches. So, as an example, I'll go on a sales coach post, go, hey, that's awesome stuff. You've got to connect with this other sales coach on the other side of the world. And you guys have got to sync up and maybe swap some ideas. And it just helps strengthen people out there. And with regards to networking as well. So, Just through this conversation, I'm thinking of a few people that I can introduce both you and Craig to, just phenomenal people from India and Singapore and a few other places. And that's the beauty, I think, is once you're willing to share that trust, share the love, and introduce people without that threat of, oh, I don't want to introduce my network to anybody in case lose business or people don't like me, they go elsewhere. And that's why I love platforms like this where we can share as experts because at the end of the day, people buy from people. And if you're afraid to share ideas with other people, then that's where I think the biggest concern tends to come up for me. But those are my thoughts.

Thanks very much, Mac. I really appreciate that. All great thoughts from everyone there. Great sharing, guys. And hopefully our listeners will listen to this as a podcast, will be able to take those down and apply some of those learnings. I want to welcome Ariel to the stage. Ariel, welcome to the stage. You've been with us before. We're in the Social Selling Tips room on Green Room. I was about to say Clubhouse. I'm Green Room. And this is a weekly chat that we have on social selling. We also record this, so we are being recorded, and we use this as a podcast on the Social Selling Warrior podcast channel. So, Ariel, uh, questions, thoughts, observations?

Yeah, thanks, Con. Always good to see you. Hi, Craig, and, uh, nice to see you and meet you, Joe and Matt. Hi. And I was going to, I was going to yes and to what Max said, which is, in my experience, there's always, there's always been more that's gained than lost when partnerships are developed. That's just in my mind, that's just the way it works when you're at a, you know, have integrity and have, you know, an authentic— the word of the year— and you're working with other people who are the same, then there's, there's, there's, I've just seen so much that comes from that, whether, you know, in person as well as on LinkedIn. I'll, you know, I'll give you an example. I was actually, this originated on Clubhouse, but I was in a room on Clubhouse. And then I had mentioned that I'm a marketing communications lead at a consulting firm that is solely for federal business. So people who want to increase their win potential and win success with U.S. federal business, they come to us. And the— someone had heard me say something about that on the stage and also was able to speak the, uh, the U.S. government alphabet soup language. And contacted me off Clubhouse and on LinkedIn and connected me with someone that he works with very closely. And it is a it is a partnership. I mean, it it has the potential to be. I understand why he made that connection. So there's something that can come out of for for me and this other person, the the actual connector. Perhaps there comes There's, there wasn't anything direct that came to him for that. However, in the future, there could be something for sure indirect. And for sure, the one thing that does come indirectly is that both of us know that he's someone who can make these types of connections. We know what he does. So down the road, if there's something that comes into my view, that is something I think would be of value to him and his business goals, then there's that symbiotic relationship. And that's what I wanted to add.

That's magnificent, Ariel. Thanks for that. That's great. And that's exactly what we're here about. It's about how we create those relationships, how we get to know, like, and trust each other. And then from there, like Max says, refer and cross-refer and support others who might have a need. It's a Great, great, great example. And I'll give you an example too. My friend Zissis is down here at the bottom. He's from Greece. I came across Zissis in Clubhouse. We had a conversation, joined his group, interacted, and then they were talking about various topics and issues they wanted to discuss in their group. One of the topics they talked about was personal branding. So we did a Clubhouse on personal branding, not myself, someone else did it. And they said, what about you, Con, doing one on LinkedIn? And I did it, and we got a connection there. And I did a session last Sunday. I'm going to do another one for them this Sunday. And from there, I'm getting people coming to me and asking me for more assistance and more help. So it's about, it's about sharing. And the principle I've used is give, give, and keep on giving. And we all have— we've all heard that before. You give, give, and keep on giving. And I really believe in karma. I think it always comes back to you eventually. But if you come From an authentic perspective and keep on giving and sharing and referring, I think eventually you'll reap the rewards and benefits. So, Joe, have you had any similar experiences in relation to that where you've had referrals or building relationships and sharing?

1,000%. I'm a huge believer in leading with value. I think that sets the tone for the relationship. So opening doors for other people, One, it's just fun, right? I mean, like, giving first is just the easier way to go about working with strangers until you guys get more familiar with each other. And, and, and so, um, it's a common strategy I use. I actually leverage my podcast a lot for that, where I'll bring people on the show so I can understand them better, but then I'll try to plug them with somebody immediately after the show if it makes sense, of course. But, but 100%, I love it.

That's great. Eero, you're going to say something?

I had a question, and my question, it's a clarifying question, which is, what is— if there is a difference, what is the difference between social selling and engagement?

Who wants to go on that one? Craig, I can see you're on mic.

You can go. Yeah, I'd like to take that one. My understanding is social selling is getting to know a person via direct messaging. So, you know, taking it to an email and a Zoom call maybe, and getting to know somebody, you know, not just about their career, but also, you know, about their background and bonding with somebody on a personal level, where I think engagement is just about statistics. It's about people liking, sharing, commenting on your post, maybe in the public arena. So it's, you know, it's an engagement on a post, and it's something that's trackable, whereas, you know, something very tangible, whereas I think, you know, social selling is a little bit sort of intangible, it's sort of relationship building, building rapport, which is, you know, difficult to put numbers on a spreadsheet to, whereas engagement, you could put the numbers down on a spreadsheet, that's my take.

Thank you, yeah, I think that what I would add What I would add to that, uh, thank you, Craig, is that perhaps maybe, um, intentional engagement could almost be an opener. And then once you have some information and you think that you have something more to add in, uh, you know, in a way that would interest somebody, then taking it into the DMs or linking And in-mail would be the next, kind of the next step of the funnel, that the intentional engagement and then the social selling is when it's a one-on-one. Is that what I'm hearing?

Yeah, yeah, I think engagement could be in the public domain, so you're commenting back and forth on a post, and then when you take it into the direct message and You start talking one-on-one, then that's more in the sort of social selling arena, is my—

Can I— yep, Mac, you want to be— just, I'll go. I'll just put a perspective to this. Now, we're talking about here, so we're talking here social selling as the verb, whereas I look at social selling as a concept. So the act of social selling is what you guys are talking about, but the concept of social selling is a package, and the package involves what you're talking about. The concept of social selling is all about— the most fundamental thing of all is to have a rockstar profile, what they call rockstar or solid profile. You cannot social sell unless you can be discovered. You cannot social sell unless you can start to engage with insight. You cannot social sell unless you start identifying find your ideal client customer and start connecting and engaging with those ideal customers. So what you're saying in relation to social selling, this is correct. It's about taking those conversations and taking them offline because you've done all that other aspects of social selling, which is the profile, which is about discovery, which is about engagement, and which is about education. That's my perspective on it.

So, I was going in a similar direction as yourself, Con. I think one of the things that people forget is that we're always selling. You know, at the end of the day, we're selling ourselves to our partners, our children. You know, we're selling ourselves all the time in different concepts, in different ways. And for me, you know, you hit the nail on the head there. It starts with a profile, as an example. If you're not discoverable, you know, then it kind of stops there. So, for me, it's social selling is the overall concept and engagement is part of the process that you go on. So, there's different parts of engagement. There's engagement that you do purely as, you know, something that you may be interested in. But then there's also strategic engagement where you are trying to target specific types of clients. Get on the radar because at the end of the day, we're advertising every time we engage. So the key thing to remember is every time you, you know, one of my clients said, you know, what's the point of commenting on other people's posts? And I said, well, it's very simple. Every time you get an opportunity to comment on somebody's post, your name and your little strapline, those first, you know, 20, 30 characters under your name come up and people get to see, hey, well, there's you know, there's Con, and, you know, Con's a social selling warrior. So straight away, there's an opportunity for people to go, oh, I wonder what that's about. So that's part of the whole, you know, the whole process. So every bit of engagement, whether it be responding to people commenting on your posts, whether it's commenting on other people's posts, that whole social selling journey is the whole way through. But the selling but as Craig says, you know, it happens off platform because if you're selling online, that's where the part where it just becomes another ad and people scroll past. So, you know, it's really important for me, and I think everybody will agree that that part gets taken offline, but it is a process and a journey that you go through from setting up your profile to all the stuff you do online because, you know, every bit of interaction that you have online is effectively selling that social proof and trust into who you are and whether people actually want to have a discussion offline. So those are my—

I want to welcome also Christopher to the stage. Thank you for being patient, Christopher. Before I go to Joe, did you want to add anything to what we've been discussing? Christopher, are you there? You're on mute.

Yes, yes.

So I would like to question the— how do you all feel about the concept of authenticity across all platforms, in regular life and digital life, but the importance of authenticity in putting yourself out there? That's a great question, Christopher. And I know that all of us do this and do this in our own unique way. I think authenticity is about being yourself and it's about being unique in that being you. We've all got our own particular traits. We've all got our own particular likes. You know, Craig's a barbecue man. I'm into, um, into my Greek roots. I like talking about Greek history and Greek culture. I know Max is a family man. He does a lot with his family. Joe, I'm just getting to know as well, but I'll open it to others. That's a good question Christopher's asked. How do we feel about authenticity on social media platforms and how can we, how can we tap into it? How can we be genuine?

I'll jump in with just a funny story that I heard the other day, and someone was talking about— they were just getting onto LinkedIn, or, you know, just starting to use it more, understanding that there was more to it than putting up a profile and setting and forgetting it, and was playing around with the area on LinkedIn where you can skill with the skills, what skills you have. And he had put down skills that he had and related to his business. And he had put one as a joke. He had put, I think it was rock climbing. And his buddies and other people also, just as a joke, started recommending him for, he's a rock climber, he's a rock climber, he's a rock climber, and got many, many hits on that to the point where eventually there was some company that came to him for information, or, uh, I don't even know, a quote for— they wanted to work with him, uh, for some reason having to do with his rock climbing acumen that he must have because he has so many people endorse him for rock climbing. Uh, it didn't go so well, and he regrets it. Uh, and I realize that's an extreme example, but, uh, I think it's a, I think it's a Joe, did you want to add anything to that?

I saw you flashing.

Oh, I mean, honestly, I was just laughing at that story. I think, I think that's a great example, Ariel, of how people could easily create this persona online that, that they don't have the foundation to kind of maintain, right, and really build upon. It happens all the time online. Which is, which is pretty interesting. And, and one of my hopes, which is not probably going to happen anytime soon, but I would love if we could possibly have some way without infringing on our personal data too much, which is probably— this makes it impossible now. But I would love for us to have that same identity that we have in person online. I think it would clear up so much of the confusion that happens and make being authentic so much easier, right? Um, so just my thoughts.

No, a very good point.

Um, love the way you put that, Joe. Um, and, and I think over the last 18 months, especially during the pandemic, we have seen such a big shift with people really wanting people to be more authentic. Before the, um, uh, pandemic, what tended to be the, you know, ultra-polished profile, the great big, you know, title that people hid behind. And it was very much a— there wasn't insight into people's lives. And over the last 18 months, with, you know, every one of us getting into people's living rooms or into their dining rooms or into their home offices with kids in the background and cats and dogs and family members bringing in tea and coffee and and all the rest of it, it's created that opportunity for people because people really want to connect. So I think, you know, Jo, there's a lot more of that being seen online. And I'm seeing a lot more, you know, where people post, you know, a son or daughter or the dog in the office. And it's getting a lot of attention. And it's getting a lot more reach because people can relate to that because they're in the same situation. Now, with, when it comes to authenticity, I think you know, one of my coaches, a guy called Beiju Solanki, who's a performance, psychological performance coach, he took me through this whole thing about, I don't know if you know the concept of be, do, and have. Now, what most people in life tend to do is, you know, they move between doing and having because they want to be able to have a certain lifestyle. So, they behave in a certain way in order to have that. So, on LinkedIn, what we tend to find is, you know, people will go, and it's the same on other social media platforms, where they pretend to be a certain persona. And the easiest way for me to describe this is my wife used to come into the room and go, ah, I knew you were on a business call. And I said, how do you, how did you know that? And she goes, oh, you had your business voice on. And I was like, what do you mean? I was talking normally. But, you know, pre-pandemic, I was very much, you know, I put that formal kind of professional voice on. And that's one of the things that I've learned to shake over the pandemic and just be me. And this whole concept of Be-Do-Have, if you go and have a look, you know, go onto YouTube or one of those platforms and just research the Be-Do-Have concept. But effectively, what it means is, rather than trying to figure out what you want to have or what you need to do to have what you want, what you want is figure out who you want to be first. And who that person is that is bringing that service or that product to market, and who you are representing and what you're representing. And if you can figure out who you want to be, so as an example, if you decide you want to be an Olympic athlete, you don't have to figure out what the outcome will be because you'll know that as an Olympic athlete, there's a certain behavior that you have to have. There's a certain way that you have to act. You have to be, you know, professional. You have to turn up. You have to go and put in the hours to go and, you know, do your training. And, you know, going to McDonald's on the way to a workout is probably not part of who you need to be in order to be able to have that gold medal. Whereas, you know, if you think you'd like to be an Olympic athlete, then one day you might turn up for training, the next day you might, you know, have a bit of McDonald's and then the next, and then you're just never quite who you really want to be, which means you're not in sync with the outcome. So people tend to move between doing and having and keep changing that, and they can't figure out what it is. But once you know who you want to be, you know exactly, you know, the messaging you want to put out, you know exactly who you want to look like, what you want to say, and the whole messaging changes. So for me, that's just a concept to go and think about.

Christopher, did we manage to address the question you had? Yes, very well. Thank you. And the insights were very, very enlightening. Thank you. No problem. Thanks for joining us, Christopher. We are coming close to the end of the room, so I want to give a chance to each one of the people people, uh, Craig, Mac, and Joe, my co-hosts today, to just, um, quickly talk about who they are, more importantly where you can find them. Because I think you would, you would see from listening today, and you listen to this as a podcast later on, all these 3 gentlemen are really worth a follow, really worth tracking down and connecting. So I'll start with you, Craig. Where can people find you and how can they find you easy and quickly?

Yeah, nope, no problem, Con. Thanks very much. So I'm Craig Langley. I'm based in the UK, 50 miles north of London. My background is business development. I have a software degree and I've been working in software and electronics since, since 1993. Been on LinkedIn since 2007, and I'm a keen Sales Navigator user, so I've been using that ever every day for the last 5 years. People can find me on LinkedIn. I have an open profile, so I can receive messages even if we're not connected, Con. So LinkedIn is the place for people to find me, Con. Thanks very much.

Thank you, Craig. Joe, thanks for joining us today. Great effort.

Where can people find you and how can Con, I just want to thank you again just for hosting this space. It really is great just to have open dialogue with everyone. My name is Joe Lemon. You can find me on LinkedIn, is primarily where I play, but I'm on all the platforms. I do TikTok, I do Instagram, you pretty much name it, I'll be on Fireside coming up, or Fire Chat, I believe it just launched off not too long ago. But LinkedIn is where I live for the most part. So you guys can find me there. I mainly work in the healthcare space. I'm creating communities for healthcare providers, but I do a lot of sales coaching as well. That's my side hustle. So yeah, you guys can find me on LinkedIn and Con.

Thanks again.

Thank you, Joe. Great to hear. And one day we will do a session on TikTok. We'll have to change the name of the room, but that'd be great because I need to learn about TikTok one day. They tell me I should go on, but but I've been resisting it. Mac, where can people find you? And please, can you tell us about the coaching program you're starting soon? I think people would be keen to find out.

Excellent, Con. Thank you so much. So my name is Mac Laubscher, and the easiest way to find me online is just type into your URL thelinkedinexpert.com. And the only reason I have that is because it was available, but also because I've spent so many hours trying to get to know the platform and share my knowledge. And you can go and book a discovery call or connect with me on LinkedIn through that URL. So I typically work with C-suite executives, board members, and business owners, business coaches, and help them really get found on LinkedIn and become an authority in their space. Because what I find is most people tend to be experts in their own field, um, and can rock the boardroom, can rock a stage, you know, 10, 15, 20,000 people, no problem. But when they get onto LinkedIn, they tend to lose their voice, and it always says be the first to comment. So I help them get found and get noticed and actually build their authority on LinkedIn. I run several different courses. I've just launched my Sales course, which starts Thursday evening, London time, 5:30 to 6:30 PM, as well as a 12-week deep dive LinkedIn expert course, which takes you from never having posted before to being an authority within your space within 12 to 24 weeks. So if you want to reach out, please do. Again, please also connect with, with Con and Joe and Craig, absolute experts in their field. And without them, I wouldn't be where I am today. So thank you very much, gents.

Thank you, Mac. I really appreciate it. So guys, if you are in the UK or even you're not in the UK, but there's some good coaching there from Mac. I've been to a couple of his sessions. They are absolutely awesome. And I mean that honestly and genuinely. I'm in the business and what Mac does with his clients is amazing stuff. So join in. So guys, I'm Social Selling Warrior. That's my Handle. That's my hashtag. If you do the Social Selling Warrior hashtag, you should be able to come up with me. I don't think anyone else is using it.

I'm on LinkedIn.

I'm on Clubhouse under Social Selling. Maybe one day Joe will go on TikTok. I'm on Instagram under Social Selling Warrior. So I've tried to use that as my brand, and it's been successful so far for me. And again, like like Mac, I chose Social Selling Warrior because it was available, and it's probably a bit. More about what I do than just LinkedIn. Yes, I do work on LinkedIn. I'm a LinkedIn lover and I enjoy LinkedIn, but it's about taking those conversations to the next level. That's what I teach my clients how to do that. Entrepreneurs, small business people, coaches, consultants, how today they can leverage their profile to have those conversations and garner more opportunities and hopefully sales from those. That's it, guys. Thanks very much. This podcast will be available on your podcast channel of choice. It goes out on Anchor FM, then it gets, uh, put on Spotify and other podcast channels. It's under the Social Selling Warrior. So you're looking for Social Selling Warrior, and the heading will be Social Selling Tips and Tricks Live Broadcast Wednesday the 21st of July. So if you're looking for this particular one, that's where you'll find it. I will post it on LinkedIn and, um, I'll post it on my Instagram channel as well. Once again, thank you very much everyone for joining. And to Mark, and to Aziz, to Katsuhiro, and to Christopher, and to Ariel who was with us, thank you very much for listening in and, um, listening to us talk about social selling, which is our passion and our, our love. Please join us again next Wednesday, same time, same bad channel, but we once again talk social selling tips and tricks. Thank you everyone and have a great night.

Thank you.

Thanks, Tom.